My Heart Still Beats for You
by Hermione Sweetheart
Summary: Ginny and Draco, torn apart in the midst of dark times. DG, bittersweet.
1. Chapter 1

It was a cool, windy day. The normally calm water of the lake was undulating with waves, and the wind blew through the trees and forced many students inside.

Ginny was sitting on the grassy bank of the lake when Draco came to her.

He walked up behind her, almost silently, but she could feel his presence. She turned, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

"Ginny," Draco said, in a relieved-sounding voice. He dropped his broomstick to the ground and came towards her, sitting beside her and smoothing her windblown hair back from her face. "Oh, Ginny..."

She was unnerved by the way he was saying her name, by the stricken look on his face. "Draco... what's wrong?"

"He's calling us," Draco whispered in her ear. "I have to go to him."

Ginny didn't need to ask to figure out who he meant. Voldemort. "Why?" she asked, slightly desperately. "What's happening?"

"I'm not sure," he said, and she could hear a small tremor of fear in his voice. "But I have to go; I don't want to, Gin. But he'll kill my family if I don't follow him, you know that."

She bit her lip as tears came to her eyes. "Are you coming back?" she whispered.

"I..." Draco began, as his voice cracked. "I'm not sure, Gin. This seems big; I don't know what'll happen. But it's worse. You need to protect yourself, Ginny. He's coming after anyone tied to me."

His words hit her like blocks of ice. "W-what? Why?"

"He knows I'm not faithful to him," Draco said, his voice cracking again. "He can sense it. We need to break our tie, Ginny. I couldn't bear losing you because of this."

Tears spilled from her eyes now, running down her cheeks. "Draco..." she whispered to him. "I... I..."

He gently wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumb. "I know, Ginny," he said, and his voice caught in his throat. She looked up and saw that his face was also wet with tears. "I know. But I can't lose you... I can't. We'll be together again, you'll see. Don't worry."

He pulled her close as she sobbed into his shoulder. "But... what if... what if you don't come back?" she managed to say in a strangled sort of voice. She didn't want to think of it; she wanted to erase the horrible thought from her mind.

He just shook his head. "I'll come back, Gin." He picked up his broomstick and swung his leg over it. He clasped her hand one last time, squeezing it gently. Reluctantly, they let go.

"I've got to go to him, Ginny," he said, backing away from her, but his eyes never left her tearstained face. Right before he took off, he called, "I'll come back to you."

Then he kicked off from the ground and she watched through her tears as he soared towards the clouds, his figure growing smaller and smaller against the vast gray sky. At last, he disappeared completely.


	2. Chapter 2

Ginny spent the rest of that day by the lake. She wanted to think of what Draco could be doing at that moment, but then again, those thoughts brought pain beyond belief.

_You put a rose in my hand  
Put a dollar in my pocket  
But you don't understand  
How the days grow longer, the sky is black as night  
I see the morning but you won't see the light_

That night, as rain splattered against her window, she sat on the windowsill and remembered.

She remembered their first kiss, in that same spot by the lake. She'd been awkward, but he seemed to know exactly what to do. He guided her as he gently brushed his lips against hers.

She remembered their first official date. They went to Hogsmeade for a while, but they got tired of that and came back to the castle, where they spent the rest of the day wandering around the grounds. Past the greenhouses, along the edge of the forest, around the lake, even daring to go near the Whomping Willow.

She remembered when she'd first found out about his duties as a Death Eater, and his obligation to serve in place of his father, to pay the debt. He had explained to her that he was in danger, and she would be too. And perhaps they shouldn't be together. But she'd insisted.

It hadn't mattered to her, that she was in mortal danger because of her love for him. It still didn't matter. She didn't care about saving herself; she cared much more deeply for Draco, and for his safety. He was forced so deeply into this world of evil that Voldemort had brought back with his followers.

She watched him grow paler and more worried as Voldemort grew stronger. She was there when he had to leave for his responsibilities, and she waited for him. She prayed for him to be all right, and for him to be spared with life, what so many others had not.

When he returned to her, she saw what no one else saw. There was a haunted look in his eyes that had not been there when they were younger. His icy blue eyes grew darker, and she could hear the now-familiar waver in his voice when they spoke about Lord Voldemort.

Leaning her head against the cool glass of the window, she wiped away her fresh tears and drew her knees to her chest.

_I thought about you for a long, long time  
I wrote about you but my words don't seem to rhyme  
And now you're lying here  
But my heart still beats for you_

They'd made a vow to be together always. And now, in the midst of these dark times, she felt that invisible bond strengthening, rather than becoming weaker. Anything could try and tear them apart, and many things had nearly succeeded, but she'd always love him. And she knew he felt the same.

Somewhere out there, she knew, he was doing whatever he was he needed to do. It was his duty. And she hoped he was thinking of her, safe and unharmed.

Note: lyrics copyright Hootie and the Blowfish.


	3. Chapter 3

_October 10th, 1999_

Everyone was dressed in black. There were flashes of white throughout the crowd as a few people pulled out handkerchiefs.

Draco hated black.

Ginny stood alone, holding a light blue handkerchief to her face, although, strangely, her eyes were dry. She stared unseeingly at a black casket from a distance. It seemed unreal to her. This was all a dream. A chapter out of someone else's life.

_Had a dream about you  
You sat right down beside me  
And you told me we were through  
It was all so real and you told me reasons why  
You brought me to the window  
And you taught me how to fly_

Except it wasn't someone else's life. It was her life.

She let some stranger pat her on the back before they moved on. All these people, they hadn't really cared. Sure, they'd known him, but had they cared about him, truly? Had they felt what he felt? Had they known exactly what he'd been thinking without having to ask?

She continued to let her mind wander to the past as someone gave a small speech. Their words seemed distant and unfeeling to her. She felt cut off from the world around her as blurred figures in black moved around her.

She felt slightly dizzy as she remembered his last words to her. 'I'll come back to you,' he had said. But had he? There didn't seem to be much hope now.

Her world had slowly crumbled around her, and now she was trapped in the ruins of it.

_I thought about you for a long, long time  
I said I love you but we just don't have the time_

The speaker finished, and people began to move away as the ceremony ended. But Ginny had no urge to leave just yet.

There were murmurs of apologies directed at her as they shuffled past her, occasionally patting her shoulder or touching her arm briefly. But what did they have to apologize for? Was it just something they felt the need to say as they saw her standing there?

She took a shuddering breath and thrust her hands in her pockets to warm them. But she soon brought them back out, the cold sting of the breeze welcome.

"Are you all right?" asked an elderly man, one of the last to leave. "The funeral's ended, you know."

She nodded in response. When the man seemed unsure, she gave him a small smile. Then he walked on. She continued to stand there, suddenly aware of her sheer aloneness. She glanced around, and indeed, she was the only one remaining.

She closed her eyes and felt the wind swirling around her, blowing back her hair and caressing her face. How long she stood there with her eyes closed, smiling faintly, she didn't know.

Suddenly, she felt the wind change. It seemed to stop, for just a moment or two. She opened her eyes, and she thought she saw a faint grey shape in the distance. As it came closer, it seemed to take a clearer form.

It was the ghost of Draco. His spirit. Numbly, she smiled and gave a small wave of both hello, and goodbye. This form of Draco nodded in reply, and seemed to slowly fade until Ginny nearly believed it had been a hallucination, merely a shape in the light fog that was settling.

He _had_ come back to her, if only for a moment.

_And now you're lying here  
But my heart still beats for you_

"I love you," she whispered to the empty space before her. And she could have sworn she felt a small, almost nonexistent, unnaturally warm breeze flow gently against her hand in return.

Note: lyrics copyright Hootie and the Blowfish.


End file.
